Elizabeth Zurlo is lost. She's a wife, a mother, a teacher, a PTA volunteer—but somewhere along the way, she's lost herself. Depression and despair can lead to desperate measures and when she is pulled back from the brink of suicide, Elizabeth slowly tries to rebuild her marriage and reclaim her life. Just as she has finally started to put herself back together, a scandalous novel rocks her small town ... and costs Elizabeth her social standing, friendships and ultimately, her marriage. However, the man who seemingly destroyed Elizabeth's life, helps her realize who she is and what she needs to do to become the woman she's not only capable of being, but the woman she used to be.

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Just Not Mine by Rosalind James

In association with Reading Addiction Virtual Book Tours

Virtual Book Cover Reveal Event

Book Description: Just Not Mine

Destiny has a way of sneaking up on you . . . or of smacking you in the face.

Hugh Latimer's coping with a few problems just now. A broken hand, missing the European rugby tour . . . and a half-brother and sister who are playing havoc with his love life. Instead of packing down in the scrum, he's driving the carpool to ballet--or forgetting it's his turn. When he hears his neighbor wailing out bad pop in the wee hours, it's the last straw.

Josie Pae Ata is a fortunate woman. A new house, good friends, a gorgeous boyfriend--oh, and stardom, too. Getting involved with her new neighbors would bring risks she doesn't need. But life has a way of changing the rules. And when you get more than you can handle, sometimes all you can do is hang on for the ride.

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The Milestone Tapes by Ashley Mackler-Paternostro

In association with Goddess Fish Promotions

Virtual Book Promo Event / Book Review / Contest Giveaway

Book Description: The Milestone Tapes

The only thing Jenna Chamberland ever wanted in her life was to be a good wife and a good mom. In death, she’ll find that she still wants the same things.

With stage-four breast cancer, a terminal diagnosis and six months to live, Jenna fears what awaits her family after she is gone: Her husband, Gabe, will be left to raise their daughter alone, and Mia, only seven years old, will be forced to face a world without her mother.

Ten blank tapes to teach her daughter everything she’ll ever need to know. Dead before Mia ever really got to know her, Jenna exists now only in pictures and watercolored memories, and Mia finds herself struggling to remember her mother in a way that feels real. But on the ninth anniversary of Jenna’s death, she will return to her daughter through a series of audiocassettes. One tape each of the milestones of Mia’s life, and with them, a letter explaining that Mia should only listen to the tapes when the time is right.

With the help of her mother’s long-gone voice, Mia may just learn how to embrace the challenges and triumphs of her ever-changing life with humor, grace and a lot of hope.

Rereleased for its second anniversary, the novel that book bloggers have called “beautiful” and “unforgettable” returns with new content and tapes never before read.

Friday 6/6/14

The Breakup Doctor by Phoebe Fox

In association with Author Phoebe Fox

Book Review

Book Description: The Breakup Doctor

Call Brook Ogden a matchmaker-in-reverse. Let others bring people together; Brook, licensed mental health counselor, picks up the pieces after things come apart. When her own therapy practice collapses, she maintains perfect control: landing on her feet with a weekly advice-to-the-lovelorn column and a successful consulting service as the Breakup Doctor: on call to help you shape up after you breakup.

But when her own relationship suddenly crumbles, Brook finds herself engaging in almost every bad-breakup behavior she preaches against. And worse, she starts a rebound relationship with the most inappropriate of men: a dangerously sexy bartender with anger-management issues—who also happens to be a former patient.

As her increasingly out-of-control behavior lands her at rock-bottom, Brook realizes you can’t always handle a messy breakup neatly—and that sometimes you can’t pull yourself together until you let yourself fall apart.

Saturday 6/7/14

Somebody Like You by Beth K. Vogt

In association with Author Beth K. Vogt & Blogger Casey Herringshaw

Book Review

Book Description: Somebody Like You

Can a young widow find love again with her husband's reflection?

Haley's three-year marriage to Sam, an army medic, ends tragically when he's killed in Afghanistan. Her attempts to create a new life for herself are ambushed when she arrives home one evening and finds her husband waiting for her. Did the military make an unimaginable mistake when they told her Sam was killed?

Too late to make things right with his estranged twin brother, Stephen discovers Sam never told Haley about him. As Haley and Stephen navigate their fragile relationship, they are inexorably drawn to each other. How can they honor the memory of a man whose death brought them together;and whose ghost could drive them apart?

Somebody Like You is a beautifully rendered, affecting novel, reminding us that while we can't change the past, we have the choice to change the future and start anew.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by IndieSage Promotions.

Book Description:

When single mother Annie Malone purchases a quirky Main Street café on Heron Island, she thinks she’s finally turned her dream of opening her own restaurant into a reality. Hearing rumors that a developer is about to build a five-star resort on the sleepy Chesapeake Bay island, she plans to transform the café into a premier upscale bistro. But Navy SEAL, Will Dozier, has no intention of selling his grandparents’ property to a developer. Back on Heron Island for the first time in ten years and secretly struggling with PTSD, Will decides that a fling with the new girl is the perfect way to help him “get his head straight.” The last thing Will expects is to fall in love…with his hometown and with Annie. But Will’s life and career are in San Diego with the SEALs. Can Annie’s love and the healing magic of the island be enough to convince him to stay?

Book Excerpt:

Will drove into town. He felt like a live wire, ragged and fraying around the edges, ready to snap. He hadn’t slept. Again.

He was running on adrenaline now—every sense heightened, every thought twisted and fragmented.

It wouldn’t be the first time. He recognized the feeling. He’d experienced it on enough overseas ops. It had fueled him through Hell Week ten years ago when he’d first joined the SEALs. One of the reasons the instructors pushed them so hard in BUD/S was to see if they could carry out a mission in an exhausted haze.

He knew how to function in this state.

It was all mental.

He just had to get control of his mind.

Marshes and soybean fields gave way to the playing fields of the Heron Island Elementary School. Faded orange soccer nets flanked the flat stretch of grass, and he slowed when he spotted a woman with long red hair sitting alone on the bleachers.

Wasn’t that the woman he’d met last night?

What was she doing at the elementary school?

Unless…

Shit. Did she have a kid?

That would explain why she hadn’t wanted him to come in last night, why she’d kept looking back toward the stairs leading up to the apartment. He tapped his fingers over the steering wheel. Kids complicated things. He didn’t do complicated.

But he wanted to see her.

He’d thought of little else while he’d lain awake last night, staring at the ceiling.

Turning the wheel at the last minute, he steered the SUV into the parking lot. He pulled into a parking spot facing the playing fields and cut the engine. Screw it. He had six weeks to figure out how to un-complicate things.

He climbed out of the driver’s seat and walked across the grass to where she sat. When she lifted her gaze, he expected her to say something sarcastic about the chicken tenders she’d given him last night. He wasn’t prepared for the pale face and haunted eyes that stared back at him.

Whoa.

There was nothing uncomplicated about that. “Is everything all right?”

“I’m fine.”

Her hands were wrapped around the bench on either side of her, curled into a death grip. “You don’t look fine.”

“Thanks.”

“No,” Will said, backpedaling. “I mean, you look like you could use someone to talk to.”

“Actually, I’d really like to be alone right now.”

Will paused a few yards away from her. He hadn’t risen to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy without recognizing that most of the time, when one of his men said they wanted to be alone, what they really needed was someone to talk to. He wouldn’t let one of his men off that easily, and he sure as hell wasn’t leaving Annie alone in the middle of a panic attack. Not until she told him what was wrong.

“Look,” she said after several moments of silence when he made no move to leave. “I just dropped my daughter off for her first day at a new school, and I’m worried about her. I want to stay close by in case she needs me.”

“How old is your daughter?”

“She’s eight.”

Eight? Will’s gaze combed over Annie’s face. She didn’t look old enough to have an eight-year-old daughter. He’d pinned her as twenty-six, twenty-seven at the most. She must have been pretty young when she’d gotten pregnant.

He took a moment to study her. She was wearing a stretchy black top and dark jeans again. She wore her hair long and loose, spilling in red waves over her shoulders. The wind whipped a touch of color back into her cheeks, but her eyes still held a hint of fear.

What was she afraid of?

“You’re not wearing a ring,” Will said, “so I’m guessing the father’s not part of the picture.”

“No.” Annie brushed her hair out of her eyes. “He’s not part of the picture.”

Will wondered if he’d ever been part of the picture. Or if he could have something to do with what she was afraid of. “If your daughter’s eight, shouldn’t you be used to leaving her at school by now?”

“It’s a new school. She doesn’t know anyone here.”

Still, he thought. She seemed pretty shaken up for someone who was just dropping her kid off at school. “What grade is your daughter in?”

“Second.”

“Who’s her teacher?”

“Becca Haddaway.”

Becca? No kidding? “I didn’t know Becca was a teacher.”

“I thought you said you grew up here?”

“I did.” Will rocked back on his heels. “I haven’t been back in a while.”

Annie glanced back up at him, shading her eyes from the sun. “How long is a while?”

“Listen,” Will said, changing the subject, “you look like you could use something to eat, and I bet your daughter doesn’t want you hanging around when she comes out for recess. Let me take you to breakfast.”

Annie shook her head. “I need to stay here.”

“For how long?”

“Until I’m ready.”

“You can’t say no to a fried egg sandwich from The Tackle Box. I’ll even throw in a bottle of orange juice.” He smiled down at her, trying to put her at ease. “We can call it a date.”

“I told you last night. I’m not dating you.”

“Why not?” Will feigned a hurt expression. “Don’t I look dateable?”

“Yes,” she said. “You look perfectly dateable. For someone else.”

“But not you?”

“No. Not me.”

“Why not?”

Annie’s gaze drifted to the brightly colored playground and row of swings near the school. “Because I don’t date.”

Will walked to the bleachers, lowering himself to the bench beside her. “Ever?”

“That’s right.”

“That seems closed-minded.”

“It’s not closed-minded. It’s just easier.”

Will’s eyes widened in mock horror. “What’s easy about not dating?”

“Well, for starters,” she answered, “not having to explain to my daughter where I’m going and who I’m going with.”

“Your daughter’s busy with school right now, so you don’t have to explain anything.”

“But I’d have to tell her later. We don’t keep secrets from each other.”

Will studied her for several moments. “You tell your daughter everything?”

“Yes.”

“Everything?”

“Yes.”

Will leaned in and brushed his lips over hers. Before she could react, before she could do anything, he eased back and winked. “Let me know what she has to say about that.”

My Book Review:
Single mother Annie Malone and her daughter Taylor move to Heron Island to start a new life. Annie puts her life savings into opening a French restaurant, hoping that the small town environment will help her daughter recover from the horrible school tragedy that occurred at her school.

Navy SEAL Will Dozier has returned to Heron Island after ten years to sell his deceased grandparents’ inn. When Will meets Annie, he craves the solace of her arms to silence his own emotional demons from a mission gone wrong. He only plans to stay a short time on the island because of his dedication to fighting terrorism, despite silently suffering from PTSD. However, Annie and her troubled daughter weave a spell on his heart, encouraging him to long to stay around much longer than he expected.

Wind Chime Café is a sweet contemporary romance set in picturesque Heron Island on the Eastern Shore of Maryland in the Chesapeake Bay. This is a wonderful story that takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster ride and tugs at the heartstrings. The reader can't help but feel compassion for Annie and Will’s difficult pasts, their emotional connection is heartwarming, and when you add in young Taylor, it's a endearing relationship that will leave a smile on your face.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that the author does an amazing job of transporting the reader to Heron Island with the richly vivid description of the tranquil small island setting and the supportive community spirit of the islanders.

Wind Chime Café is a wonderful story about the courage of facing fears, overcoming struggles, and the healing power of love. It is a beautifully written story about one woman's efforts to build a better future for her daughter, a young girl's strength to let go of her fears, and one man's struggles to accept the things he can't change. Wind Chime Café is a story that will resonate with you long after the last words have been read.

RATING: 5 STARS

About The Author

Sophie Moss is an award-winning author of four full-length romance novels. Known for her captivating Irish fantasy romances and heartwarming contemporary romances with realistic characters and unique island settings, her books have appeared twice in USA Today. As a former journalist, Sophie has been writing professionally for over ten years. She currently lives in San Diego, California, where she's working on her next novel. When she's not writing, she's walking the beach, testing out a new dessert recipe, or fiddling in her garden.

Ginny Bloom Hunnicutt is crawling back home to Cottonwood Cove Alabama-- her promising CNN news-reporting career in shambles when an on-air flub cost her the job and cost CNN a lawsuit. Putting ego aside, she takes a position at the Chatterbox – the local weekly newspaper run by her mother, the town gossip. What’s a southern belle to do in a crisis but run home to her mama?

But when a mysterious hot high school football coach rolls into town, Ginny’s luck begins to change. Seems he has more secrets than a shady politician and Ginny’s determined to dig up the truth, and write the story that will get her career back on track. Everyone knows in a small, southern town, nothing stays private.

But the more she delves into his past, the more she begins to fall for the former college football star.

The coach’s star player has some secrets of his own and when Ginny uncovers it all, she must decide if she should reveal everything or follow her heart and protect the people she has grown to care for.

Author Beth Albright weaves a saucy southern tale filled with intrigue, romance and laugh out-loud comedy. From the bright lights of Friday night football to the darkened bedroom of unexpected lovers, it’s a richly layered story with more twists and turns—and mud, than an Alabama back road.

Book Excerpt:

“I’ll have another,” I said as I ordered my second dirty martini. The Sand Box was a dingy little bar near the pier in Cottonwood Cove, Alabama.

Covered in fishing ropes and other remnants of the life on the lake, the place was a dive for the small-towns folk who lived here, and for the kids who were lake rats during the summer. But summer had ended weeks ago, the kids back at school, and we were well into September now. Late that night, the place was nearly empty.

I sat there nursing my drink, drowning myself in what I had come to believe was the most embarrassing moment of my career. The dim lights swung in old metal fixtures from the ceiling of the Sand Box. A jukebox playing Hank Williams Jr. stood missing some of its colored lights in the corner. A few old wooden tables were scattered around with a couple of red vinyl booths shoved in the corner near the pool table and dartboard.

I had come home, tail tucked neatly between my legs, to lick my wounds. My name is Virginia Bruce Hunnicutt. I go by Ginny. My sisters and I all have my mom’s maiden name as our middle name. I kept it as my last name for my TV job. Ginny Bruce, reporting. I was a reporter for CNN in Atlanta. Was being the key word here. I had been fired two weeks prior because one of my sources was a fake. I swear I checked the credentials but the story turned out to be full of inaccuracies and CNN is now in a lawsuit. I may never work in the media again. And CNN was my dream job.

My name is now as muddy as the Alabama red dirt, which is exactly where I ran home to: Cottonwood Cove, Alabama. It’s the safest place to be. And even though I had become quite the big city girl, the one I had always dreamed of being, somehow, the safety of being home in Cottonwood Cove had its perks. Like being in this dive bar in the middle of the week late at night, with only one other soul in here besides me. Oh, God—and he was making his way over to me just as I was finishing my second round.

“What’s your poison?” he asked in his deep sexy baritone. He was beautiful. Rugged and sculpted with dark wavy hair and gorgeous lips; he was about six foot three and deliciously well built. His dark blue eyes undressed me as he moved closer to me—or maybe that was just me thinking I’d be more comfortable with my clothes off with this gorgeous man. He was dressed in a navy Polo button-down and perfect fitting blue jeans. His large muscular thighs and broad defined shoulders were evident even under his clothes. One dimple accentuated the right side his cute, boyish face. He smiled at me like he was fixin’ to eat me up, and oh, I was feeling like dessert as he slid in next to me at the bar. He looked like an athlete. Or a god. Come to think of it, in Alabama, those are one in the same. Regardless, he was heaven to look at, or maybe I was seeing him through double martini glasses. Probably the latter since I only weighed about 125 pounds and I knew better than to have more than two drinks. Ever.

“I’m having dirty martinis,” I answered. “You?”

“I’ll have the same,” he said to the bartender.

About The Author

Beth Albright is the author of the award-winning, best-selling series The Sassy Belles. After knowing Beth for just a few short seconds you are sure to learn she is from Alabama. No, its not the lilt of magnolia you can still catch in her voice, or even the way she lovingly describes her undying love for her famous alma mater's football champions. She will tell you she loves Tuscaloosa, even after living quite literally all over the country. Though Beth has had a remarkable career, from New York City to Hollywood, and all points in between, she has never forgotten where she came from...and what she loves. That's why when it came time to write, Beth had no choice but to write about Tuscaloosa and The University of Alabama, and all the quirky people she still calls family, though some do not actually share her bloodline!

Beth Albright has always been a storyteller. After spending nearly 15 years in talk radio, as a talk show host, playing the part of a principal character on the soap opera, DAYS OF OUR LIVES, owning her own acting school and children’s theater, and raising a son who was a nationally ranked figure skater, Beth has decided to return to her roots; storytelling. When she was in the sixth grade, her teacher gave her the floor every Friday to tell her stories. See, Beth was a talker, a future talk show host in the making, and she was telling stories so much that her teacher couldn’t teach. The teacher told 12 year old Beth if she would begin writing her stories down, she would be allowed time to share those stories with the class.

And she’s been writing, AND talking ever since. Beth has interviewed Bob Hope, Oprah Winfrey, Betty White, Wolfgang Puck and George Burns live from the Chinese Theatre, as well as numerous other celebrities, and authors. Then Beth became a principal character on Days of Our Lives. But through all of the excitement of talk shows and soap operas, Beth loved telling stories to her audience the most. With a degree in Journalism from her beloved University of Alabama, She always remains true to her roots, born and raised in Tuscaloosa, “My grandfather was the play by play announcer for the Crimson Tide in the 50s!” Beth will proudly tell you. She is a down homespun girl, although she currently lives in San Francisco with her TV producer husband and her brilliant son. But her heart is always in Alabama.

Monday, May 26, 2014

In association with Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours, Jersey Girl Book Reviews is pleased to host the virtual book tour event for Unwell by Author Marie Chow!

Author Guest Post

How Self-Publishing Affects A Writer's Growth Curve

Ira Glass (from NPR’s This American Life) did an interesting video about people who attempt “creative work.” He talks about the doubts we experience and boils it down to basically three things:

1. We attempt creative work because we have taste
2. Initially, there will be a “gap” between our work and the work our taste would guide us towards
3. We have fight through, work hard, practice, refine, and practice some more, to close that gap

It’s a great video, with a wonderful message. One that many aspiring authors are told:

As a self-published author, it also inspires me to question: Should I be self-publishing?

Like many self-published and indie authors, self-publishing was not my first choice. Unlike previously successful authors who turned to indie publishing because of better margins or greater creative control, or just because they were people who knew they had a platform and thus didn’t need the services of a traditional publishing house, I started my official writing life by submitting to agents.

48 agents to be exact.

As I was submitting query letters I was also making every mistake you’re warned against (I didn’t take polishing my query letter as seriously as I could have, I had a completed manuscript that I was still actively editing, and so on). Yet the truth of the matter is, my ultimate rejection from the formal publishing world might have had everything to do with the novel itself. It’s possible that even if I had written a pitch-perfect query, the book just wasn’t what they wanted. It’s not in a popular genre. It didn’t fit with their… taste.

At that point, I decided to self-publish. I’m a control freak. I’ve tried quitting writing several times already. This time, I was committed. It was publish-or-bust, and if traditional houses weren’t willing to help, then I would do it myself.

Most days, it’s a decision I stand by, despite the ups and downs inherent in self-publishing.

Still, there are times when I can’t help but wonder whether I should have just put Unwell on the shelf. If I should have dedicated all of my time to writing, practicing and closing that gap between where I am, and where I want to be.

Five months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you how to find a cover artist, or what a .mobi file is. Four months ago (despite the fact that I run a book review blog), I couldn’t have articulated what a blog tour is. Finding a cover artist, formatting, all of these are things that I previously knew nothing about; it took time and patience to learn all of it (and still, there is so much more to master).

Ultimately, every moment I spent learning about marketing, tweaking cover designs or even trying to figure out this mad, mad social media world, was time away from writing. Time I could have been using to close the gap between where I am, and where I’d like to be.

All of which makes me wonder: How has self-publishing affected my own growth curve?

It’s not, ultimately, a very answerable question, but I think it’s one that bears consideration.

About The Author

Marie Chow is a former teacher, education evaluator, and engineer. A lifelong student, she has degrees in degrees in chemical engineering, teaching, an MFA in writing, and a doctorate in educational leadership. Her writing focuses on bilingual and English-only children's books that feature mixed families, as well as literary and contemporary fiction focused on Asian and Asian American characters.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Chick Lit Plus Blog Tours.

Book Description:

How do you tell your child that you won’t be there when they grow up? Unwell is the raw, honest story of a mother who writes to her unborn child, sharing her decision of choosing not to be a mother. She doesn’t choose abortion. Nor does she consider adoption. Instead, she decides to give her child a fighting chance in life, without the angst and drama that’s shaped her own bittersweet life.

With a poignant lack of emotion, the young mother shares her life story. As the child of Asian parents who moved to America early in her life, the mother shares how her life disintegrated after her parents’ divorce. From upper middle class suburban to sharing her mean aunt’s house to a one bedroom apartment in a shabby neighborhood, this mother endures the indignity that comes with the change of status. From her father’s absence to her mother becoming a married man’s mistress, her story reads like a tragic Victorian novel set in the 21st century, but that’s where the similarity ends—she is definitely not a shy country miss and she certainly did not take the easy way out.

This amazing story chronicles the life of a woman who fought for everything she got, faced her demons and made the hard choices. Her fortitude and candor are disarming, her avant-garde views strangely endearing. You’ve never read a book like this and probably never will again. Get your copy today and take the literary journey of a lifetime. Through this glimpse into the life of a woman of integrity, sacrifice and love, you’ll feel her pain, live her failures and cheer for the meager joys that come her way. But the one thing you’ll never do… is forget her. Or her story.

Book Excerpt:

One last thing.

I wasn’t even going to apply to MIT, originally.

I was applying to a lot of good schools, mostly UCs, since we lived in Modesto. My classmates were split pretty evenly: about half were planning on community college, staying in Modesto and living with their families, the other half were hoping to get into UC Davis, and having an excuse to move just far enough. Those of us at the top of the class were applying to UC Berkeley, maybe UCLA (if we didn’t get along with our parents, and wanted to be further away). Most were applying to a handful of private schools.

I was different in that I was applying to almost no private schools: shortly after I’d submitted my initial paperwork I’d been invited to submit an application for the Regents’ scholarships, which I took as a good sign. I was already looking into dorms at UC Berkeley, was already calling it Cal, like I belonged there, before I ever got an acceptance letter. Cal seemed perfect -- top tier enough to be respectable and well known, brag-worthy for those in my family who cared about such things (which was almost all of them), and also close enough that I could come home for the weekends, birthdays and all the major holidays.

But yeah, sure, I was a teenager. I made a hypothetical list of privates, because it’s always fun to daydream: Duke (I still remember the application and information packets they sent, which were blue and embossed with gold letters), Princeton (because a television star you’ve probably never heard had gone there), Yale (though the exact reasoning escapes me), and of course Harvard, because that’s always the Asian dream, right?

Since they were all long shots, I was going to narrow it down to just one, and probably that would have left just Harvard, in a shoot-for- the-moon logic. But my mother came into my room one day and kind of nonchalantly asked about MIT. She said that it had always been my father’s dream school (though he’d failed out), and wouldn't it be funny if I got in?
That’s all she said.

Wouldn’t it be funny if I got in.

Nothing about how we’d pay for it (which of course, would be my father’s problem, according to the divorce agreement), or whether I’d like it (which should, really, have been a concern: the sciences had not been my favorite subjects in high school, and MIT is really a math and science school).
Just: wouldn’t it be funny.

So, I scrapped the other private schools I’d been thinking about (without regret, I should say, since I really hadn’t done enough research on any of them, so convinced was I that I would end up wearing a Cal sweatshirt). I had long ago finished my UC application, which meant that I had copies of all my recommendation letters (where my teachers had signed on the outsides of the envelopes, to show that I hadn’t tampered). I had copies of my transcripts as well as a traditional essay about my family, my aspirations, blah, blah. The essay, though, became a stumbling block. Probably I could have just retooled my UC one, but I had convinced myself that I shouldn’t.

No idea why.

The night before the deadline I couldn’t sleep. I sat down at the computer and wrote a completely ludicrous essay for a fairly standard prompt: tell us about you, your world, blah, blah.

Because it was already the middle of the night, and because I was in an odd mood, I fixated on the “the world you come from” part of the question and started just writing.

I wrote that both of my parents were aliens, from different worlds. They’d been matched together, sight unseen, as part of an elaborate crossbreeding experiment engineered to produce a supernormal being. Both were selected after a series of tests and competitions and represented the best their species had to offer in terms of intellect, physicality, and emotional stability and maturity.

They’d been sent to our planet so that if the experimentation went horribly awry, their home worlds would not be affected.

Also (I wrote) there were political considerations: neither world was willing to let the other have home court advantage. The Nai’Ros (my mother’s people) were worried that the Heojs’s (my father’s people) might inexorably influence and pollute my mother with their way of thinking, and vice versa. The only way to be in a truly equal, unbiased setting was to select a neutral territory that neither species had significant influence over, preferably one that was technologically stunted enough that it could be easily taken over, if necessary.

Earth.

After being chosen, both of my parents became instant celebrities. After a lavish ceremony, both worlds waited in eager anticipation, tinged with justifiable suspicions about the necessity of a future war: if the pair reproduced a set of supernormal beings, as had been predicted, which planet would have jurisdiction? What if there was only one child? How would such a resource be evenly distributed between two vastly different planets?

But my parents were unlucky, physiologically incompatible and thus infertile despite the tests that had been run and theorized ahead of time. A decade into the experiment, both had yearned to return to their home planets, preferably without each other. Since both had been chosen as examples of near-perfect specimens, they’d come to resent one another, convinced that the lack of offspring was the other’s fault.

But by then, most of their own people had forgotten about them and the experiment. Not wanting the expense of transporting them back and performing the necessary debriefs, the two governments agreed to change and extend the initial experiment. It was decreed that they would adopt a child, a human girl, and she would become the living embodiment of the nature vs. nurture hypothesis.

I was that child.

My Book Review:Unwell is the poignant story of a young Chinese American woman who journals her life story to her unborn child, who she has chosen not to know. Told in the first person narrative, the reluctant mother-to-be chronicles her difficult life story in a haunting, raw, and honest style that takes the reader on an emotional journey.

To say that this was an easy story to read would be wrong, as this gritty tale unfolds it definitely pulls at the heart strings and stirs the soul, and causes one to ponder what would you do if you were in this young woman's shoes. The reader is easily drawn into the woman's story as her life struggles determine the hard choices and tough decisions. The reader is kept wondering what the woman's final decision would be when her child is born, questioning along the way how one could choose not to be a mother, yet comprehending that you can't judge a person unless you walk in their shoes.

Unwell is a sobering and thought provoking story that will resonate with you long after the last word has been read.

Unwell is the raw, honest story of a mother who writes to her unborn child, sharing her decision of choosing not to be a mother. She doesn’t choose abortion. Nor does she consider adoption. Instead, she decides to give her child a fighting chance in life, without the angst and drama that’s shaped her own bittersweet life.

With a poignant lack of emotion, the young mother shares her life story. As the child of Asian parents who moved to America early in her life, the mother shares how her life disintegrated after her parents’ divorce. From upper middle class suburban to sharing her mean aunt’s house to a one bedroom apartment in a shabby neighborhood, this mother endures the indignity that comes with the change of status. From her father’s absence to her mother becoming a married man’s mistress, her story reads like a tragic Victorian novel set in the 21st century, but that’s where the similarity ends—she is definitely not a shy country miss and she certainly did not take the easy way out.

This amazing story chronicles the life of a woman who fought for everything she got, faced her demons and made the hard choices. Her fortitude and candor are disarming, her avant-garde views strangely endearing. You’ve never read a book like this and probably never will again. Get your copy today and take the literary journey of a lifetime. Through this glimpse into the life of a woman of integrity, sacrifice and love, you’ll feel her pain, live her failures and cheer for the meager joys that come her way. But the one thing you’ll never do… is forget her. Or her story.

Wednesday 5/28/14

The Perfect Score by Beth Albright

In association with Goddess Fish Promotions

Virtual Book Blast Event / Contest Giveaway

Book Description: The Perfect Score

Ginny Bloom Hunnicutt is crawling back home to Cottonwood Cove Alabama-- her promising CNN news-reporting career in shambles when an on-air flub cost her the job and cost CNN a lawsuit. Putting ego aside, she takes a position at the Chatterbox – the local weekly newspaper run by her mother, the town gossip. What’s a southern belle to do in a crisis but run home to her mama?

But when a mysterious hot high school football coach rolls into town, Ginny’s luck begins to change. Seems he has more secrets than a shady politician and Ginny’s determined to dig up the truth, and write the story that will get her career back on track. Everyone knows in a small, southern town, nothing stays private.

But the more she delves into his past, the more she begins to fall for the former college football star.

The coach’s star player has some secrets of his own and when Ginny uncovers it all, she must decide if she should reveal everything or follow her heart and protect the people she has grown to care for.

Author Beth Albright weaves a saucy southern tale filled with intrigue, romance and laugh out-loud comedy. From the bright lights of Friday night football to the darkened bedroom of unexpected lovers, it’s a richly layered story with more twists and turns—and mud, than an Alabama back road.

Friday 5/30/14

Aloha Also Means Goodbye by Jessica Rosenberg

In association with Author Jessica Rosenberg

Book Review

Book Description: Aloha Also Means Goodbye

Jo and Jordan tied the knot five years ago in a mud hut in the middle of Zambia far from all their friends and family. Now they're in Hawaii for a big wedding vow renewal ceremony elaborately planned by Jo's mother. There's just one small issue, there’s something wrong with the wedding license issued in Africa and only Jo knows.

Little does she know that the wedding license will soon prove to be the least of her problems.

Her ex, the man she was running from when she met Jordan, is on the island and he's there with his two kids, both of whom are named after her.

Coming face to face with her past just as she's trying to brave her future forces Jo to make some big decisions. It might even force her to grow up. Luckily she doesn't have to do any of it on her own; her two best friends are there to hold her hand and help her down the right path.

Despite all the upheaval and complications Jo will eventually walk down the aisle to say “I do” to the man who completes her. But will the wedding that takes place be the one Jo's mother planned? Or will it be something much, much better?

******

Wind Chime Cafe by Sophie Moss

In association with Indie Sage PR

Book Review

Book Description: Wind Chime Cafe

When single mother Annie Malone purchases a quirky Main Street café on Heron Island, she thinks she’s finally turned her dream of opening her own restaurant into a reality. Hearing rumors that a developer is about to build a five-star resort on the sleepy Chesapeake Bay island, she plans to transform the café into a premier upscale bistro. But Navy SEAL, Will Dozier, has no intention of selling his grandparents’ property to a developer. Back on Heron Island for the first time in ten years and secretly struggling with PTSD, Will decides that a fling with the new girl is the perfect way to help him “get his head straight.” The last thing Will expects is to fall in love…with his hometown and with Annie. But Will’s life and career are in San Diego with the SEALs. Can Annie’s love and the healing magic of the island be enough to convince him to stay?

About Me

Hi, my name is Kathleen! I am a Jersey Girl born and bred with the sand and surf between my toes! I am a freelance proof reader / copy editor. I love to read books and share my passion with other readers. I have 2 book review blog sites: Jersey Girl Book Reviews that features all genres except for erotica, which are located at Jersey Girl Sizzling Book Reviews, and a book promotions blog called Jersey Pines Book Promotions. I am willing to proof read / copy edit / review your books, host guest blogs, blog tours, and giveaways. Please contact me if interested.